


Dragon Master

by prince_jamie



Category: DreamWorks Dragons (Cartoon), How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Hiccup Leaves Before The Final Training Test, F/M, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III Can Speak With Dragons, Hiccup ran away, Hiccup returns, Minor Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:07:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29960013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prince_jamie/pseuds/prince_jamie
Summary: I am a proud man, but I am asking.. no, I am begging you, Dragon Master, help us? Please?”Hiccup runs away before the final test, kills the red death and ends up finding his mother valka. loosely follows httyd2 but hiccup already found his mother who was pregnant when she was taken by Cloudjumper. Hiccup and his brother Leif come to Berk after they hear Dragos trappers have reached them.I'll update really irregularly since im busy with college and work but this idea popped into my head, its my first fic here after my fanfiction.net account was lost years ago.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Original Male Character(s), Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III & Toothless, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Kudos: 14





	1. The Arrival

Chapter 1

The viking standing watch on the north most watch tower of Berk yawned, Barely able to keep his eyes open. Recent attacks on Berk has meant patrols had tripled. He never saw the two shapes fly overheard, moving inconceivably fast in the night sky, the only sign of their passing, the brief blocking of the stars.

Farther inland, the pair of dragons land in a hidden cove in the woods. Their riders dismount before moving to set up camp for the night, the two converse quietly as they work.  
“you know, when I said I wanted to come here I wasn’t expecting you to be up for it, given what happened”, the slightly shorter of the two commented as they removed pieces of armour and laid them out next to the fire. “well, when we heard Drago’s attacks had reached this far I figured it was time, besides you deserve to see where we came from”, the second rider, taller than their counterpart reasoned as he lay down against his dragons side.  
“It’s where you came from Hiccup, I was born in the nest, mom raised me there with the alpha…. Look I’ll meet Stoick, we’ll broker peace until we deal with Drago or whatever, but for now can we sleep? We’ve been flying for days”. The younger of the two settled down for the night, their dragon gently laying its head on their lap. “sure, look Leif, Stoick will never have to know if you don’t want him to, though you know you look an awful lot like mom right?, goodnight” the older looked at the slumped form of their counterpart, the helmet made it hard to tell if they were truly asleep but Hiccup drifted off soon after.

**********************************************************************

The people of Berk were tired, attacks from mysterious Vikings continued, they worked for a man named Drago, they demanded dragons in exchange for their safety. But Berk had been free of dragon raids for years, no dragons had come to the island in 5 years, nobody knows why or how.  
Stoick stood at the top of the steps to the great hall, they’d received word days ago by a trader, the dragon master they had spent months tracking down had agreed to help them. The letter said they would arrive at noon and so Stoick had been waiting. A select few stood below him on the steps, Hiccup could spot Gobber, more a father than his real father, Spitelout, and the whole gang of teens it seems. He guessed they must have joined the Berk guard after all, guess they weren’t teens anymore.

The group startled as two dragons descended from above the clouds, in the daylight they could clearly be seen against the white and blue of the sky. The Vikings look on as the two large dragons land in front of them, one on the left black as night with rounded stubs surrounding its face, a deep blue tail fin standing out in contrast against the black scales, it’s rider wearing armour that blends into the dragon below, their helmet hauntingly dragon-like, as if the match the riders demonic steed. 

They had never seen a dragon like this, Astrid had seen one of its kind once when she watched hiccup fly away all those years ago, oh how she wished she had stopped him that day, demanded answers instead of waiting. All she’d gotten was the chance to see him one last time, to know he wasn’t dead like the others believed him to be. She’d never told Stoick, he would never have forgiven Hiccup if he knew he’d sided with the dragons over Vikings. Night furies were rare, maybe this dragon master had seen Hiccup.

Once her attention shifted to the second rider, her eyes widened in shock. A skrill stood defensively, as if waiting for somebody to strike. Its scales a deep purple, almost black, with veins of a lighter purple spreading across its body like the lightning it so regularly used. It’s rider, much light the first, wore armour made of dragon scales and a helmet to match its steed, it seemed to glow in the sunlight. Neither rider carried obvious weapons but the dragons were fearsome enough.

“ahem, right” Stoick cleared his throat shakily before he began, “would you join us inside to talk? We can offer you food and drink after your travels, I imagine you must be weary” though he presented an air of strength and confidence, his eyes shifted nervously between both riders and dragons alike. Neither had yet to make as much as a sound, they held the silence for a short while longer before the purple one, as Astrid had dubbed them, slid from the dragons back, landing almost silently before nodding and gesturing for the chief to lead the way.

As they entered the empty great hall and shut the doors, the Vikings took to their respective seats and waited for their guests to settle in the centre of the room before Stoick stood. “I apologise for calling you, but we need your aid, Drago Bludvist is a tyrant and we cannot give him what he seeks, we know you hunt dragon trappers and the like” he paused for a moment to clear his thoughts as the armoured figures tracked his every movement, “all we want is peace again, we have not had a dragon attack for 5 years, yet he wants us to catch dragons for his army. I am a proud man, but I am asking.. no, I am begging you, Dragon Master, help us? Please?”

******************************************************************

Hiccup had been watching his father since they had landed, he looked so much older than he had 5 years previously, his hair had greyed significantly and his face seemed sadder, had this war been that hard on him? But now, hearing him beg a stranger, a stranger riding a dragon no less, for help? They’d agreed that Leif would do the talking to be sure nobody recognised Hiccup but he couldn’t stop himself.  
“And if our help involves dragons, do you still seek to destroy their kind as you once did? If we told you the only way to save your people was to trust dragons, would you do it?” Hiccup watched Stoick and the others take a moment to think, last time he’d seen any of them they had hated dragons more than anything in the world. Leif moved forward to address them as well, he’s always been the better diplomat of the two, even when they met years ago and Leif had spent his whole life with only the company of dragons.

“what my brother means Chief, is that we know dragons to be kind and peaceful creatures, we would never force them into servitude like Drago does. They are our friends, our family, they stay with us because they trust us, as we trust them… could you do the same? Would you?”. The room was silent for a few tense seconds before the Chief sighed and straighten from where he had been hunched over the table, “yes, I believe we could learn to do this, but I would like your word, neither you, nor your dragons shall harm my people” he glanced at the two beasts standing behind their riders, both watching every person in the room for signs of trouble. “you may come and go as you wish, but should you wish to stay here, you cannot stay in the village”

Hiccup watched the man he once called Dad, had they really come to terms with dragons? Could they really do this? He thought to himself. He looked to his brother and nodded, these terms didn’t interfere with the ones they had laid out so he had no problem with them. Leif, seeing Hiccups approval looked to the Vikings once more, “very well, your terms are acceptable, however, we have a few of our own.” A faint snort could be heard followed by a quiet ‘oh no’, if Hiccup could guess he’d say Snotlout and Fishlegs, how Snotlout was ever accepted as heir he would never understand.

“number 1. If any viking harms us or any dragon, we will leave, you will receive no further help from us…2. We will train your best fighters in dragon riding only, all others must train in fighting, too many riders is dangerous…3. We would ask to use your forge when needed, dragons require upkeep and so do we, we will also need all the weapons we can get…4. These terms are not negotiable in any way. As Chief we respect your rule over your people but do not expect us to follow them ourselves.” As soon as Leif was finished, the hall erupted in anger, members of the council shouting outrage until Stoick silenced them with a firm hand, he looked to the youngest members of the guard “are the 5 of you willing to train with them?” receiving nods from all he turned to Gobber, “and you? Wil you lend them your forge for their….upkeep?” the smithy nodded before saying “aye Chief, but I must ask, what kind of upkeep do you two ‘ave, you said you ‘ad upkeep for yourselves”

The two riders froze, staring at the council through their helmets before just gesturing down as if to say “are you all blind???” looking closer, they couldn’t believe they hadn’t noticed it when they’d landed, both riders were missing a leg, the skrills rider had a prosthetic on their right leg and the black rider had one on his left. Both were intricately designed, much more complicated than Gobbers peg leg or interchangeable hands. Gobber whistled “that’s mighty impressive laddy, hope you wont mind sharing how that works” he gestured with his false arm to show his meaning.

Leif took a step forward once more, now only 15 or so feet away from the Chief of Berk “when we heard you were seeking aid from us of all people, I must admit we were sceptical, but seeing you now, I understand” he stopped his slow approach and gently spoke once more, “we will help your people as best we can, I’m sorry for you losses, both by dragon and by Drago, but please listen when we say it is in the past now” he glanced back to his brother, who gave an almost shaky nod to continue. “your raids stopped for a reason those years ago, the dragons were forced to steal and raid by their queen, they ate none of what they stole, they barely knew what they were doing themselves. But now, the queen is dead, and the dragons have stayed clear of Vikings for their own safety” the night fury gave a soft warble from behind before turning as Hiccup jumped on. “we will take our leave now, we’ll be in the main square at dawn to meet our new trainees properly, Chief” Leif gave Stoick a nod and slight bow before turning and walking out the doors on foot.


	2. The Flashback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A brief look at the timeline, including Hiccups arrival, getting to know the fam, Dragos uprising and up to the events of the first chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm writing Stoick as a good guy, he was a bad father sure but he changes over the 5 years following the first film. Leif is 18 currently and Hiccup is 20. Hiccstrid is very loose in this fic but it'll be there eventually, I'm also going to add maybe some Leif/OC and Stoick/Valka

The brothers decided to take a flight around the Island for a few hours before heading back to their camp. Hiccup had just lain back on toothless and hadn’t spoken much after the discussed the meeting.  
I took off my helmet, glad finally for the change to breathe fresh air, as amazing as Hiccups designs were, dragon scales don’t exactly breathe well long term. I hooked his helmet on to Tempests saddle, I’d always preferred to fly without one when he could, the feeling of wind through my hair was one of the best parts of flying. As we flew next to each other, I took a moment to think back to when mom and I had first found hiccup.

**********Flashback**********  
Leif was taking Tempest out for her morning flight, since he’d hit teens a few years ago, mom had allowed him to fly farther from the nest more often, today he was heading South West. After an hour or so of flying he spotted an old viking ship, barely afloat. Rushing down to see what was wrong, he couldn’t believe there was a person and a dragon on it.

He’d ended up dragging the boat back as fast as he could, mom was furious he’d been gone most of the morning but shed called some dragons to help carry them inside. Mom took care of the dragon, he’d never seen one like it before but King said it was a nightfury. He dragged the boy into his room, but his leg was so badly injured he had to fetch mom, Leif took care of his cuts and burns, there were so many.

He doesn’t remember too much from that night, but he remembers the screams as he’d held the boy down, mom had had to amputate his leg but the pain had woken him up and the dragon had come running to his defence, blasting a hole in the wall to do it.

It had taken a few days for mom to go close enough to see the scar on his chin, after all the boy had burns spanning half his torso and part of his throat. She never hid it from him, telling him who she was as soon as he could stay awake long enough. Hiccup had been…shocked to say the least..

**********Time Jump********** still Leifs POV  
Hiccup and I had taken a while to get used to each other, after all we had both been only children until now, but when we did get to know each other? Hooo I can tell mother regretted it immensely.  
While we have our differences, the two of us where as similar as twins who’d known each other their whole lives. Hiccup took to using our forged straight away, I’d asked for it years ago and had taught myself the basics to we had weapons and some infrastructure but Hiccup? He knew his way around a real forge, he started teaching me everything he knew a few months after he arrived. He built himself a new leg and helped my upgrade my frankly, rudimentary excuse for a peg leg. 

By the time I was 15 Hiccup had reached my height at 17 somehow. Being only 2 years apart and now the same height, we were mistaken for twins so often when we visited the markets. He’d begun to make more sophisticated armour, constantly testing devices from the nest-top, much to Kings annoyance.

A year later Drago had begun stirring up trouble more and more, we’d had to develop dragon scale armour in the hopes of defending ourselves from his dragon fire. Mother was still wary of us going out so much and the nest had to be expanded with how many dragons we’d taken in.

Hiccup had just kept growing, now that he’s 20, he’s a walking beanpole, far too tall if you ask me. When Valka had explained that I was also Stoicks child those years ago I’d wondered if either of us looked much like him. As we got older mom said I had taken some of Stoicks build and nose, still slender like her but at least I can build some muscle…unlike Hiccup… I have her eyes though, and her hair. It’s one of the reasons we were so wary to show our faces, Stoick would probably recognise the son he had raised but would he recognise the other?

**********Hiccups turn**********

As I lay back on toothless, I couldn’t help but think, what would have happened if I’d stayed that day, shown them all the truth? Would I be who I am now? Would they? I’m so conflicted, I came expecting hatred and fear but this? Acceptance and co-operation, I don’t know what to do. I don’t think I would have met mom and Leif that’s for sure.

I don’t remember too much from the time after I left Berk, I spent a few months preparing to take down the queen and I did it!! But even now I have no idea how much time I lost afterwards.

I remember her tail, then darkness before there was pain and a voice calming me as hands held me down. Then I woke up in what I can only describe as the most beautiful place I’d ever seen, dragons of every shape and size living in peace with 2 people, I couldn’t believe it, less so after I had met the alpha.

When the woman had turned out to be my mother and the boy, my brother? Well it was a bit of a shock to be frank. She’d been gone so long , had stayed away for so long, It took me a little while to come to terms with that.

But once I had? She showed me everything she knew, and I started to get to know my new brother better, Leif was two years younger than me but he certainly didn’t look it. When Leif showed me his forge and explained that he made some weapons and such, it was that piece of home I didn’t know I’d been missing, I spent hours teaching him all I knew, thinking of Gobber as I did. If I missed anyone from home it was Gobber. He’d certainly have been able to help Leif and I make new prosthetics, if you’ve ever had two smiths both of which “accidentally” damaged their legs in a raid, try to hop around each other and a fire whilst holding hot metal…. Lets just say from now one we always have at least 2 spares around.

After a while I started noticing Berk dragons living in the nest, they’d come to the Alphas safe haven after escaping the Queen. I’ve never seen King try to force his control onto any dragon. 

I barely noticed the years passing, Only realising I had turned 17 when mom remembered and we travelled to the markets on a nearby island for new clothes and supplies as a gift. It had gotten easier, being far from home, I had a new home now and a new family with the dragons. 

When Drago had begun to rise in support and numbers, the nest was in a frenzy with new dragons arriving everyday. Leif and I started going out more and more. Mom had started to be recognised no matter where we went so it started to get too dangerous for her to go far from the nest. When we got word Berk wanted our help I was terrified, Stoick was a stubborn man and an even more brutal viking. But seeing him today, I’ve never seen him so worried, I’ll help Berk, get rid of Drago, then leave. They never have to know who we are. Yeah that’s a good plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter was alright, It's a bit shorter than the first but i wanted to get it out before I'm swamped with work in the coming week(s)

**Author's Note:**

> as always, I hope everything is alright... I have no beta reader so please point anything out. comments are always welcome.


End file.
